Back Home
by TusDein
Summary: A Weasley returns to a place she had called home, finding something there far more than just a payment.


Being one of the Weasley's had its ups and downs, for one, she had six brothers to defend her if anyone ever tried to hurt her, second, her life was never ever boring in that household, third, there would always be someone there for her. The downside, on the other hand, whenever she brought home a boy to the house, they'd usually end up hexed and cursed and gone out the door before dinner, which brought up some uncomfortable dinners to the house.

Had Adelaide had an older sister, maybe it would have been easier on her; she would have had someone to defend her in such cases when her brothers decided to attack. Ada, as they called her, was the eldest Weasley child, working as an occasional Auror in the Ministry and as an independent marketer who searched for potions ingredients, wand ingredients and the like for various businesses and establishment.

Her line of work meant she would not be at The Burrow most of the time, leaving just her younger brothers and sister there to stay with their parents, and sending her mother into fits of worry for her health and life. She sent an owl their way every so often, a postcard and sometimes gifts for everyone when she'd find something she knew they would like.

"Adelaide!" her employee called to her, pulling her from uprooting the Mandrakes she had found easily. Adelaide bagged the plants and strode to the man, "here."

She looked beyond the bushes and grinned, "there you are…" she muttered, creeping closely to the large and deadly viper that her current client had asked for, "skin, teeth, venom, bones, meat…we'll have to catch it."

"Are you sure?" her employee asked, somewhat doubting his boss' ability.

"You insult me with your doubt, Marion," she joked, laughing cheerily as she made to take the snake at her feet, "come now, pretty thing, and let's see those fangs."

Adelaide left her men to drink, heading back to her makeshift home and to her laboratory with the latest catch of the day. She hauled the trunk filled with ingredients into the tent, opening it to see what she had in there.

For the last week she was just in Africa searching for newer and better ingredients to promote to her possible clients and so far, her haul had been incredibly promising. She pulled out the Mandrakes, the Screaming Spiders, the Quadbezoars, the honey of the African Fire Bees (which had been a terror to obtain) and much more, leaving the drugged snake to be brought out last.

Adelaide put on her gloves, unpacking the snake from its bag, she attached it to two stands screwed onto the wooden table, locking the creature to prevent it from moving. Once secured, she began working on devenoming it, filtering out its blood, skinning, de-fanging, and packing up everything for her recent client.

The next morning, Adelaide took a Portkey back to England, finding herself back in a familiar field overlooking a small town some distance away. From behind, there was a rather rundown house, a warm looking three levelled cottage with the chimney spewing out smoke in small amounts.

Adelaide smiled, beginning to wheel her trunk up to the place she always called HOME.

Molly Weasley was busy in the kitchen, her husband, Arthur, out in the garage tinkering with a new Muggle device of his. It was lonely in the house whenever her children were at school, strangely empty with just her and her husband eating at the dinner table.

She would never really admit it, but she did miss her children's constant bickering. She missed Fred and George's antics, Bill, Charlie and Ada's rough housing, Percy's chastising, Ron and Ginny's childish arguments. Most of all, she missed the dinners at home when all of them were there and safe and happy.

"Hmmm…" she mused, taking a glance at the clock in the kitchen. A hand was slowly moving from work to home, the hand etched with a name Molly was thrilled to know was here, "Arthur! Arthur! Adelaide is home!"

From where she stood on the path to her house, Adelaide could already hear her mother's loud voice. She laughed as she heard the shouts, followed closely by a door slamming shut, a crash of something metal, and her father swearing loudly to Merlin and his unmentionables. The noise of just two people reminded her that she was really home.

Adelaide stood in front of the house, the walk taking much from her with her heavy trunk and all. Why she didn't minimize the blasted thing, she did not know, but it was there now and to be kept in the garage until necessary.

She raised her hand to knock, but her mother beat her to it. "Ada! Oh, I've missed you!" Molly announced, enveloping her daughter in a tight hug, "have you been eating right in Africa? Why do you look so skinny now? You haven't gotten sick have you? What have you been up to in that blasted continent?" The questions just kept going on and on as she pulled Adelaide into the house, the trunk right behind her.

"For Merlin's sake, Molly, give the girl some room to breathe!" Arthur announced, moving to give his little princess a hug, "how have you been, my little pixie?"

"Daddy, I hardly think little and pixie are the appropriate words for me," she said, giving her father a warm hug.

Adelaide would have to lie if she said she didn't miss calling her parents, mommy and daddy, and that she didn't miss their hugs when she was away.

"Now, now, Ada must be starved. Come dear and leave your trunk to your father, let's get some food in that stomach!"

"I can't stay long, mom. I have to make a delivery up to Hogwarts," she said, slightly excited to see her brothers and sister.

"Oh? To whom?" he mother asked curiously, not acknowledging Arthur as he came into the room.

"Professor Snape," Adelaide replied, taking some of her favourite foods onto her plate and began to eat, "he ordered a few potions ingredients and asked that they be delivered to his office."

"Have you told your brothers and Ginny?" Arthur piped in, moving to take some of the chicken his wife had set on the table.

"Not for you," Molly said, swatting his hand away. Adelaide muffled a snicker and continued to eat heartily.

"Not yet," she answered, "I thought it best be a surprise."

Adelaide took to the Floo channel on her way to Hogwarts, appearing rather ungracefully at the school gates. The wards on the school stopped anyone from appearing inside without the know of the Headmaster, despite knowing her, Dumbledore seemed to have forgotten she was arriving that day.

She huffed, thinking of how to get inside the school. Hagrid didn't seem to be up and about and no student seemed to go that far from the school, so she did what she knew how to. Adelaide climbed the gate.

She made her way up to the school, on her shoulder a bag filled with all the obscure ingredients that Professor Snape had ordered from her. She wondered if he even knew she was the one who owned the company, or even if he'd remember who she was more than just another Weasley.

"Oi! Who are you?" a gruff voice called from the direction of a large hut.

Adelaide stopped walking, turning to see the groundskeeper, Hagrid, walking her way. "Ada? Little Ada? Is tha' you?" Hagrid greet, squinting to see the girl better, "it is you!"

"Hi, Hagrid," she greet, laughing at the grinning groundskeeper.

"Little Ada, whattya doin ere? Vistin' your brothers and sister?" he asked.

"Nope, delivering ingredients to Professor Snape," she said, "which reminds me that I can't stay and chat, Hagrid."

Hagrid laughed and nodded, bidding her to go her merry way. The large dog barked after her, and Ada laughed as she strode into the school.

For a school with so many wards, it had been quite easy to enter the castle. She made her way to the dungeons, ignoring the stares of the students as she walked with a large smile on her face to the office of their most abhorred professor.

She walked to the door she remembered quite well, knocking on the wood and waiting to be allowed passage. "Enter," the professor bade from inside.

"Hello, Professor," she greet, flashing a smile at the perpetually brooding professor, "how are you?"

Snape looked up from his work, seeing the familiar mass of red hair standing in front of his desk. "What are you doing here, Ms. Weasley?" he asked, confused greatly at the appearance of his former student.

"I brought those ingredients you ordered from me," she answered, lifting up the bag on her shoulder for him to see.

"You?" he asked incredulously, moving his work to make space for the large bag, "you must be joking if you say you were the one who captured the African Aspen Snake." He chuckled in his own way, a mocking laugh that could have sent even children crying.

"Unfortunately, Professor, I must take the credit for capturing the snake, retrieving its venom and blood, skinning it and deboning it and tucking the meat for your purposes," she countered his rude remark, "oh, and the fangs, I did get a nasty scratch from them."

She lifted the sleeve of her robe, showing the long thin wound from her wrist to the middle of her forearm, "rather difficult putting it the bag and stunning it."

Snape looked flabbergasted at his former student, not believing the career she had found for herself. "So you say," he muttered, waiting patiently for what he had asked for.

"Well, here you go," Adelaide said, taking out each container on after another, "quadbezoars, eagle feathers, rotting oxen, Fire Bee honey, and your African Aspen Snake parts."

Severus handed her an envelope, looking at all the items spread out on his table. She was good, he gave her that, much like what she was back when she was his student in his advanced potions class. "My last question though, Miss Weasley, is how you fell into such a profession."

Adelaide smiled at him, showing her teeth in the smile, "it fell into place. I was good at potions and I took advantage of my knowledge of alternative ingredients, after years of further research, I managed to build up what I have." Adelaide always did like Professor Snape, maybe even a slight school girl crush back when she was his only student in the Advanced Potions Class.

And she knew, she was the only Weasley he did like, or rather, tolerate. "Fascinating," he muttered, looking to the eighteen vials of snake venom she had managed to extract.

"I never knew that if the venom hit you, it would burn your clothes a bit," she said, laughing at her one anecdote.

Severus looked up and gave her a slight smirk, "it seems you missed a few things in your research, Miss Weasley," he replied.

"Please, call me Adelaide, or Ada, everyone calls me that," she asked, picking up the bag sliding down from her shoulder.

"Adelaide, then," Severus chose, looking up at his only favourite student in so long.

Adelaide sat in the office for a few more minutes, discussing and chatting amicably with the pale Potions Professor. She quite enjoyed herself and it seemed that Snape did as well, seeing as how he himself would sometimes initiate the stimulating conversation.

"It seems time's gotten the best of me, Professor," Adelaide said, getting off her seat, "I must go and surprise my brothers and sister before heading back to Hogsmeade for another delivery."

Snape didn't want her to leave, on the contrary, he wanted to discuss far more things with his surprisingly bright Gryffindor student…_former_ student he corrected, which was right, she was older and an adult now.

"Perhaps we can talk more later on," Snape suggested, stopping the Weasley from continuing any further. He hoped he had not sounded desperate, but the thought of having more time with her brought a certain joy to his life.

Adelaide nodded, giving him another smile, "over dinner perhaps, Professor? I'll be at Hogsmeade for a while seeing as clients seem to think I have set up office there, so just send me an owl when you want to meet."

Snape nodded in agreement, "and, Adelaide? It's just Severus, or Snape, now."

Adelaide nodded in understanding, walking out of the office to find her unmissable siblings. It was a lie to say she didn't enjoy that hour she had spent in there, maybe it was the girlish crush inside of her or the fact that talking to him was the most fun she had in terms of discussions. And she was excited to see him again.

Adelaide laughed and made her way up to look for her siblings and walked merrily with one thought and one thought alone.

Maybe if she ever ends up bringing Severus home, she's sure her brothers wouldn't dare throw a hex at him.

And she quite enjoyed that thought.


End file.
